Stewart by Stewart v. Nichols

• Decision Date: 01 August 1984
• Docket Number: No. 22149,22149
• Court: South Carolina Supreme Court
• Parties: Laverne STEWART, A Minor by Her Guardian ad Litem, Vernelle STEWART, Respondent, v. James V. NICHOLS, Jr. and Ben Arnold Company, Inc., Defendants, of whom Ben Arnold Company, Inc., is Appellant. Appeal of BEN ARNOLD COMPANY, INC. Jennie Lee SPEAKS, Respondent, v. James V. NICHOLS, Jr. and Ben Arnold Company, Inc., Defendants, of whom Ben Arnold Company, Inc., is Appellant. Appeal of BEN ARNOLD COMPANY, INC. Latoyia SPEAKS, A Minor by Her Guardian ad Litem, Jennie Lee SPEAKS, Respondent, v. James V. NICHOLS, Jr. and Ben Arnold Company, Inc., Defendants, of whom Ben Arnold Company, Inc., is Appellant. Appeal of BEN ARNOLD COMPANY, INC. Vernelle STEWART, Respondent, v. James V. NICHOLS, Jr. and Ben Arnold Company, Inc., Defendants, of whom Ben Arnold Company, Inc. is Appellant. Appeal of BEN ARNOLD COMPANY, INC.

Page 369

318 S.E.2d 369

282 S.C. 402

Laverne STEWART, A Minor by Her Guardian ad Litem, Vernelle

STEWART, Respondent, v. James V. NICHOLS, Jr. and Ben Arnold Company, Inc., Defendants, of whom Ben Arnold Company, Inc., is Appellant.

Appeal of BEN ARNOLD COMPANY, INC.

Jennie Lee SPEAKS, Respondent, v. James V. NICHOLS, Jr. and Ben Arnold Company, Inc., Defendants, of whom Ben Arnold Company, Inc., is Appellant.

Appeal of BEN ARNOLD COMPANY, INC.

Latoyia SPEAKS, A Minor by Her Guardian ad Litem, Jennie Lee

SPEAKS, Respondent, v. James V. NICHOLS, Jr. and Ben Arnold Company, Inc., Defendants, of whom Ben Arnold Company, Inc., is Appellant.

Appeal of BEN ARNOLD COMPANY, INC.

Vernelle STEWART, Respondent, v. James V. NICHOLS, Jr. and Ben Arnold Company, Inc., Defendants, of whom Ben Arnold Company, Inc. is Appellant.

Appeal of BEN ARNOLD COMPANY, INC.

No. 22149.

Supreme Court of South Carolina.

Submitted March 20, 1984.

Decided Aug. 1, 1984.

Brad J. Waring and Deborah K. Lewis, Young, Clement, Rivers & Tisdale, Charleston, for appellant.

Colden R. Battey, Jr., Harvey Battey & Mikell, Beaufort, for plaintiffs-respondents.

NESS, Justice:

This is an appeal stemming from a negligence action instituted by respondents, Laverne Stewart, et al., against appellant, Ben Arnold Company, Inc. Appellant contends the trial court erred in denying its request for change of venue, claiming its dealings with various local liquor stores did not constitute a property interest sufficient to establish venue in Beaufort County. We agree, and reverse and remand.

In November, 1980 appellant's employee, Nichols, was involved in an automobile accident with respondents, who, in July 1981, commenced this negligence action in Beaufort County. Subsequently, appellant, a wholesale liquor supplier with its principal place of business in Richland County, moved for a change of venue, arguing it owned no property in Beaufort County. In response to this motion, respondents submitted the affidavits of the owners and operators of seven local liquor stores serviced by appellant for periods ranging from eighteen months to in excess of four years. These affidavits indicated that: (1) each of the seven stores contracted for at least 50% of its stock from appellant; and (2) appellant maintained an agent in Beaufort County for at least three days per week to service these contracts.

Appellant asserts its business dealings with these liquor stores did not amount to a property interest sufficient to establish venue in Beaufort County. We agree.

S.C.Code Ann. § 15-7-30 (1976), as construed by this Court in Lucas v. Atlantic Greyhound Federal Credit Union, 268 S.C. 30, 231 S.E.2d 302 (1977) and In Re Asbestosis Cases, 276 S.C. 579, 281 S.E.2d 112 (1981), dictates that a domestic corporation be sued in either: (1) the county where its principal place of business is located; or (2) [a] county where [it] ... maintains an office and agent for the transaction of business." 276 S.C. at 585. We hold this Code section, as applied to the present facts, requires a change of venue from Beaufort County to Richland County, the location of appellant's principal place of business.

While "[i]t is well-settled in this state that contract rights are property rights for venue purposes," the property interest evidenced by the contract must be both substantial and continuous, where a showing of property is based solely on contractual rights. 276 S.C. at 585. We find the orders solicited in Beaufort County constitute separate and distinct transactions, as neither party to these transactions is obligated to continue this business relationship, and hold they do not provide a sufficient basis for the establishment of venue in Beaufort County.

REVERSED AND REMANDED.

LITTLEJOHN, C.J., and HARWELL, J., concur.

J. WOODROW LEWIS, Acting Associate Justice:

I would affirm the judgment and, therefore, dissent. I agree with the trial judge that appellant transacts business and maintains agents in Beaufort County so as to subject it to jurisdiction in that county.

In Tucker v. Ingram, 187 S.C. 525, 198 S.E. 25 (1938), the Court stated the long settled principle that a "domestic corporation is a resident in any...